Recession Brings New Dress Drought to Red Carpet
Posted on 18. Mar, 2010 by Jordan Shakeshaft in Arts & Culture
~By Jordan Shakeshaft~
In preparation for the this year’s Academy Awards, celebrity stylists like Rachel Zoe scrambled to dress their A-List clients despite the so-called recession-induced “dress drought.” It seemed that designers were producing far fewer of the red carpet dress contenders—because they were just that—mere contenders. Why invest the time and money, designers asked, to create an Oscar-worthy dress that a star wasn’t even guaranteed to select? (more…)
Projekt Darkwave: Music in the Shadows
Posted on 10. Mar, 2010 by Dale Eisinger in Arts & Culture
By Dale W. Eisinger
The headquarters of one of the longest-running independent record labels in America– and certainly the longest in its genre – is hidden in a squat orange warehouse on Fourth Avenue at First Street in Gowanus. The graffiti-scrawled space houses Projekt Records, run by Sam Rosenthal since he founded the brand in 1983. (more…)
NYC: Street Food a la Cart
Posted on 28. Jan, 2010 by Graham Kates in Arts & Culture, Profiles, Travel
By Graham Kates
One of the time-honored delights of New York is the so-called street food offered by all manner of vendors. Tourists welcome the novelty of these rolling mini-kitchens on so many corners, and often go back to Peoria or Dubuque talking about the crusty hot pretzel or Hebrew National hot dog or roasted nuts they bought and consumed on the street. What many visitors don’t realize is how much everyday New Yorkers depend on street vendors near their homes or offices.
Storyship – Truly Underground Music
Posted on 12. Aug, 2009 by Robert Voris in Arts & Culture
By Robert Voris
The band was playing on the L train platform in the station at 6th Avenue and 14th Street. They weren’t using any sort of amplification. They huddled together near one of the white-tiled staircases, allowing people to pass easily around them. A guitar case displaying homemade CDs sat open in front of the singer. People bought the CDs for a suggested donation of five dollars, or dropped in singles or loose change as they saw fit. The band did not directly solicit money. (more…)
Gay/Lesbian Bookstores Victims of Acceptance
Posted on 15. Jul, 2009 by Caroline Linton in Arts & Culture, Business & Economics, News Features
Back in 1967, Craig Rodwell could find only 25 books that could be considered gay and lesbian literature. But he put them on a shelf in Greenwich Village and opened the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop – the first and best-known gay and lesbian bookstore in America.
Many gay and lesbian bookstores followed, all over the country, as the movement grew in the following years. Many of those bookstores have closed recently, however, including the Oscar Wilde. Many see the disappearance of the stores as a sign of success growing out of the wider acceptance of gays and lesbians throughout society. They don’t need their own special bookstores any more because so many general bookstores carry gay and lesbian books.
At a Fine Arts Auction House, the Artists (and Buyers) Go to the Dogs
Posted on 22. May, 2009 by Craig Thompson in Arts & Culture
By C.W. Thompson
At a generous estimate, about half of the 60 folding chairs set up in the main bidding room of Doyle’s New York were occupied. It was the auction house’s 11th Dogs In Art auction and on this recent midweek afternoon, with New York in the throes of a trickle-down recession, empty seats were not unexpected. But even in a recession, the niche world of sporting art auctions saw a few brave souls come away with their own prized purchases.
The auction’s offerings ranged from lower-priced porcelain, ceramic, cast iron and marble dogs to higher-priced etchings and paintings featuring dogs, horses and birds. For the most part, the dogs presented in hunting scenarios fetched the highest asking price, peaking at $20,000 for a breed portrait of a pointer from William Harnden Foster, an avid sportsman and pointer specialist. The other paintings showed dogs sniffing out their prey, dogs clamping down on birds, and dogs portrayed with one paw raised expectantly above the ground, as the animal waits for a bird to fall out of the sky. Other paintings featured men on horses, men firing guns, dogs in portrait, and fox hunts.
Julie and Julia: In Retrospect
Posted on 05. May, 2009 by tim.harper in Arts & Culture
By Jenni Avins
At some point, I could ignore the Julie and Julia phenomenon no longer. I had dodged Julie Powell’s blog, and subsequent book, but the media onslaught that led up to the movie was impossible to avoid.
Vanity Fair provided appetite-whetting details about Julia, a spy who shagged her husband on her lunch break from Le Cordon Bleu. Michael Pollan wondered, in The New York Times Magazine, how Americans find less and less time to cook, and more to watch cooking shows (and, it would seem, read articles about movies about cooking show-hosts and the bloggers who love them). Nora Ephron, who wrote and directed the film, explained on NPR, that today’s food television exhibits cooking as an inaccessible spectacle, unlike Julia’s encouraging French Chef, and she then elaborated for Vogue’s Jeffrey Steingarten, as she browned the beginnings of a beef bourguinon for the camera.
Here’s What’s Baking in Hell’s Kitchen
Posted on 21. Apr, 2009 by Marcella Veneziale in Arts & Culture, Travel
Hell’s Kitchen, once one of New York’s most rough-and-tumble neighborhoods, now has more high-rise condominiums than dive bars. But some things never change.
The Poseidon Bakery on 9th Avenue near West 44th Street has been a neighborhood fixture for more than 85 years. The Greek pastry shop is like an extension of the owner’s kitchen. Lili Fable, who runs the bakery with her son Paul, called her family “quintessential shopkeepers” because she still lives upstairs with her husband Anthony. Even Paul lives in the building with his wife and children. (more…)
Fashion Photographer Finally Gets the Picture
Posted on 22. Feb, 2009 by Collin Orcutt in Arts & Culture, Profiles
Interpretation is a key element of the artistic process. But, in the case of photographer David McIntyre, it was a misinterpretation that proved all the difference. (more…)
